The Stardust Lounge

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Summary: .....and where is the rest of the story?
Review: This book is interesting from a philosophical vantage point. However, it is alarming and disturbing. No parent of an adolescent can hope to glean any meaningful direction from this book. Ms. Digges philosophically 'interprets' her son's antisocial acting out, excuses (yes I mean excuses) his violence, gun-toting gang persona and never deals with consequences in any rational way. If he did turn out as well as she says (which I doubt) it is not because of her non-intervention or 'fairness'. I hope no innocents were killed along the way. This book is fantasy and chance, as unworldly as a Las Vegas show.

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Summary: Highly recommended story about raising an unconventional son
Review: This book offers so much wisdom from a mother who learned the hard way how to raise an artistic son through a difficult adolescence. It's a very personal story that the author was brave enough to share. I suffered with her as I read her struggles, but in the end cheered both her and her son for their courage and intelligence. I loved that she included essays her son wrote for school and his photography as well. This is an important book for parents to read. Animal lovers may appreciate the book also because animals are central to the healing of this family. I wish all the best to the author, her son, and her foster son.

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Summary: A Life Saver
Review: This book saved my life. I have a very troubled teen and I have been at my wit's end trying to reach him. THE STARDUST LOUNGE is a book that has allowed me to laugh and cry, to back off from my son, and evaluate our situation anew. I am hoping that he will read it too! Thanks to Deborah and Stephen Digges for sharing their story.

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Summary: Raising the uncontrollable adolescence
Review: This book was a bit slow for me to begin with. But after Deborah took Stephen to the unconventional therapist, things picked up. I thought, this guy can't be real. But when you read what he tells Deborah to "join his anger", you see that it all makes sense. Her book is full of wonderful prose. And the way the animals help them all heal. Towards the end, as Stephen is making progress, he begins to teach her things also. This in a wonderful book for parents, therapists, teachers, principals, and any one who has judgement on those teens who don't look or act like we think they should. Maybe, as Deborah says, it's time for the school systems to look at how they deal with these children. Stephen tells a little of his story too. The essay he wrote for a class is wonderful. Good luck to a family who made it despite the establishment and all their rules and regulations.

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Summary: Star-Studded
Review: We just finished THE STARDUST LOUNGE in my reading group-- we were divided half and half-- some hated it, some loved it. I was one of the ones who loved it! Maybe because I didn't believe Digges meant this book as a "How-to" but more a "this- is- how- we- did it-,this- is- how- we- got- through" book. What a fantastic story-teller Deborah Digges is! I read this book cover to cover and then re-read, and will some more. I loved THE STARDUST LOUNGE for its honesty, from time to time its sense of hopelessness in the face of her son's adolescent horrors and terrors. Two thumbs up for Digges!

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Summary: It Takes Courage To Raise A Child
Review: What do you do if you're a single parent and your younger son comes home with a gun ? That's a terse version of author Deborah Digges' situation ten years ago, and what she did comprises the story so affectingly told in this book. This is by no means a "how - to" book; it tells of one mother's experience and the love of a mother for her son, no matter that he was a really, really bad boy. And it is beautifully told, at times poignant and at others humorous. The apparently positive effects of pets on Stephen's development are convincing and may well be "generalizable" to other difficult childhood situations. "The Stardust Lounge" inspired me and everyone I know who read it.